Construction worker Tom Hagan of Newark reads an 1882 newspaper that he found in a trash bin along with three 200-year-old Bibles that he said belongs to the Brackin family, of Brackenville fame.(Photo: Suchat Pederson, The News Journal)Buy Photo

Newark contractor Tom Hagan can't hide his enthusiasm when he describes what he found in a trash bin near Hockessin – a Wilmington newspaper from 1882 and a set of three Bibles from the same era belonging to one of the first families to develop the area, once known as Mill Creek Hundred.

“These things are heavy. That’s like a foot thick of Bibles there,” said Hagan, as he opened one of the leather-bound books, revealing 18th- and 19th-century marriage records for the Brackin family, the namesake of Brackenville Road.

A faded picture of a man wearing a suit also fell from the pages. Hagan pointed to it and said, “This is somebody’s great-, great-, great-grandfather. It’s probably one of the oldest pictures known to man.”

Hagan uncovered the artifacts, which show a glimpse of First State history, after noticing the Bibles had gone missing from a shelf in a garage of an empty suburban house he is remodeling.

“It’s just a shame somebody threw those away,” he said. “All I know is that the owner is a lady who is buying houses.”

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Written family records of the deaths of the Brackin family are inside a 200-year-old Bible that was found by a construction worker in Hockessin.(Photo: Suchat Pederson, The News Journal)

Among his find was a May 1882 (Wilmington) Daily Republican newspaper. Hagan points to an article titled "The Whipping Post," which described a grisly public-square prisoner beating that occurred near New Castle.

“It goes into real detail about the prisoners coming out of their cells, one by one, getting cuffed to the whipping post, getting whipped," Hagan said. "And even to go as far to say, ‘Oh, no blood trickled, or a little blood trickled from this guy.'”

Leigh Rifenburg, chief curator at the Delaware Historical Society, said public prisoner beatings were a regular occurrence at a New Castle County jail, near what is now Kirkwood Highway and Greenbank Road.

It is a “blight on Delaware’s history,” she said, particularly because the beatings continued until 1952 and often targeted black men.

“These lashings were meted out for any number of crimes. It was everything from robbery, wife beating, adultery, horse theft, obstructing train tracks," she said. "But it was mostly, unfortunately, African-American males."

The article from the more than century-old Delaware newspaper described how an "unusual crowd" had come to witness the beatings, despite a drizzling rain.

“A motley crowd consisting of white and colored men and boys poured into the yard to witness the operations of our peculiar institution," the story continued. "The spectators had not long to wait as the whippings commenced.”

Among other articles in the newspaper was a recap of a Wilmington City Council meeting, where the grading and paving of Maryland Avenue was discussed, and Fourth Street residents expressed ire over furniture cars “standing in front of their premises.”

Leading national news headlines was a story describing how Irish Americans who had been accused of traveling to Dublin to kill an English lord were innocent.

Brackinville or Brackenville

What Hagan did not keep are the other half of his find – the three Bibles. One was published in 1858 and another in 1905. The last had no discernible date.

Hagan on Monday donated the Bibles to the Hockessin Historical Society.

Inside the books were names of Brackin family members, including those who owned a gristmill, sawmill and a hotel in the namesake hamlet, which was located near the intersection of Lancaster Pike and Brackenville Road.

“The excellent mill sites afforded by the streams of the hundred were conducive to the erection of mills at an early date,” stated a passage from the "History of Delaware: 1609-1888: Local History," by Thomas Scharf.

Brackinville was one of many New Castle County villages that have since dissolved into the mass of larger development in Delaware, according to the book. Other now-extinct villages include Mermaid, Greenbank, Pleasant Hill, Loveville and Corner Ketch.

Today, the land where Brackinville stood is dotted with a Walgreens, the Hockessin Montessori School and suburban mansions.

A map shows the 19th-century location of the hamlet of Brackinville.(Photo: University of Delaware)

While pointing out the names within the Bibles, Hagan noted with excitement how the spelling of Brackinville differs from the current Brackenville Road.

“I think all the street signs are wrong. I think the whole town’s wrong,” he said.

Darleen Amobi, board member at the Hockessin Historical Society, said name spellings often change over time. While Hagan’s find is not particularly rare, she said, it certainly helps to inform the historical record.

Separate from the marriage records and family photos was another page inserted into the book that reignited Hagan's enthusiasm. “There’s this page you’ll love, the family temperance pledge, to pledge to not drink."

“No one signed it,” he said, with a chuckle.

Follow Karl Baker on Twitter @kbaker6.

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Construction worker Tom Hagan of Newark found in a trash bin three 200-year-old Bibles that he said belongs to the Brackin family, of Brackenville fame.(Photo: Suchat Pederson, The News Journal)